1. BACKGROUND
2. STORY #1: SYMPHONY NO. 5:  BEETHOVEN
3. STORY #2: PINES OF ROME: RESPIGHI
4. STORY #3: RHAPSODY IN BLUE: GERSHWIN
5. STORY #4: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, ALLEGRO, OPUS 102: SHOSTAKOVICH
6. STORY #5: THE CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS FINALE: SAINT-SAËNS
7. STORY #6: THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE: DUKAS
8. STORY #7: POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE – MARCHES 1-4: ELGAR
9. STORY #8: FIREBIRD SUITE – 1919 VERSION: STRAVINSKY
10. PRODUCTION
11. RECEPTION
12. LEGACY
13. FINAL THOUGHTS
14. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Fantasia 2000 was released almost sixty years after the release of Walt Disney’s musical and artistic extravaganza, Fantasia (1940), becoming the final movie of the “Disney Renaissance Era”.

Walt’s initial vision for Fantasia was for the movie to be re-released in various forms throughout the years, adding in new sequences whilst removing others, so that the programme was always changing. However, when Fantasia didn’t return a profit and annoyed or confused some audiences, this idea was shelved.

Attempts to revive Fantasia had been in the works for years afterwards, with a 1970s version coming the closest, a new concept called Musicana, which would’ve featured stories and music from different countries. This was again not moved forward as it was felt another Fantasia-type of film would not be profitable.

In the 1990s, Roy E. Disney felt like the time was right for a sequel to finally be produced, as the Disney Studios were releasing hit after hit with their “Renaissance Era” movies. Roy wanted this to be a tribute to his uncle, Walt, and all of the work that went into his original Fantasia, which was seen to be a “passion project”.

Because I don’t like Fantasia, I did not hold out much hope that I would enjoy the long-awaited, or perhaps not-even-asked-for, sequel of Fantasia 2000.  

I’m not sure if I’d ever seen Fantasia 2000 before, perhaps once, so if I did, I obviously didn’t think much of it! When I came to watching it again, I was pleased to see that Fantasia 2000 is only around 75 minutes long, so 45 minutes shorter than the epic that is Fantasia, so at least I knew the pain of enduring the film would be limited.

But I’m glad to say that I actually quite enjoyed it. Not every section – some were a bit long and a bit strange – but others I very much liked, for both the music and the animation. After the second section started, I found that I was no longer feeling like this was just a film I had to get through and that actually, it might be good! 

Like Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 consists of eight sections, mixing animation and classical music pieces together. The main differences between the two films are, obviously, new choices for the short sequences, as well as the use of computer generated imagery, in amongst the traditional animation techniques, which was becoming a more prominent part of animation, and a more popular technology.

The eight sections are:

1. “Symphony No. 5”: Beethoven
2. “Pines of Rome”: Respighi
3. “Rhapsody in Blue”: Gershwin
4. “Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102”: Shostakovich
5. “The Carnival of the Animals Finale”: Saint-Saëns
6. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”: Dukas
7. “Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1-4”: Elgar
8. “Firebird Suite – 1919 Version”: Stravinsky

STORY #1: SYMPHONY NO. 5:  BEETHOVEN

Fantasia 2000 begins on a background of outer space, with images from the original Fantasia flying across the screen. One of these is archive footage of Deems Taylor’s original introduction from Fantasia; Deems Taylor was the Master of Ceremonies in the film. In this introduction, Taylor explains that there are three types of music within Fantasia: music that tells a definite story; music that paints a picture; and music that exists for its own sake. He states that the first piece is this last kind.

We then move to the stage where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been tuning up and James Levine, the conductor, has been getting ready. They then launch into Symphony No. 5, using Beethoven’s music of the same name, which may not be known to the general viewer by name, but it begins with the most well-known few notes in classical music, so you’ll definitely have heard of it before.

Much like the first section of Fantasia with Toccata and Fugue, Symphony No. 5 is another abstract animated piece. It starts by following flashes of light in the sky, resembling lightning strikes which move with the musical notes, before moving on to a flurry of coloured triangles dancing over the screen like butterflies. The landscape begins to resemble a volcano, with more dark triangles erupting out of them that then chase the colourful ones, becoming a battle between the two, with the light winning out over the dark in the end.

Symphony No. 5 is computer generated, with some elements hand-drawn and scanned into the computer system, making a collaboration between the new and old technologies. It looks good, seeing all the triangles moving together like a flock of birds, but this is my least favourite of the eight sections, because it lacks a story. I do prefer it to Toccata and Fugue from Fantasia though.

STORY #2: PINES OF ROME: RESPIGHI

In a difference from Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 has celebrity guests to introduce each of the sections of the film. These introductions were directed by Don Hahn, who produced many of the movies of the “Disney Renaissance Era”.

Pines of Rome is introduced by Steve Martin, who makes a couple of jokes about Fantasia, like how we should all be glad that Fantasia was renamed from its original name of The Concert Feature, and explains how Fantasia was meant to be added to after its release, before attempting to play the violin, instead throwing the bow across the room. It then moves over to Itzhak Perlman, who actually is a violinist. Perlman introduces the piece properly, saying how Disney thought a completely different story for this music to the lush landscapes that the title of the music might bring to mind.

Pines of Rome follows a pod of humpback whales – that can fly – particularly focussing on a young whale who gets trapped in an iceberg, before being helped to safety by its mother, with the whole pod flying off together soon after. It’s a bit of a random story, but still, I like it, though the music is the standout for me here. I also thought these whales seem to resemble the “space whales” that would be seen in Disney’s Treasure Planet in 2002.

Pines of Rome is an impressive use of computer-animation, something that Disney Animation had only been using sparingly in their predominately hand-drawn 2D animated movies of the 1990s. Fantasia 2000 gave the animators more freedom to experiment with this new technology, which would help them with the movies that were to come from the Disney Studios from 2005 onwards.

STORY #3: RHAPSODY IN BLUE: GERSHWIN

Quincy Jones then explains that we’ll be heading to New York City now, with inspiration from Al Hirschfeld for the animation style, and the music of George Gershwin as a background. Jones also introduces pianist Ralph Grierson.

This third section is Rhapsody in Blue, which is potentially most people’s favourite segment from Fantasia 2000, for its artistic merits. I think the animation is clever, especially the beginning where one line draws the whole New York skyline, and I like the overall plot of the piece, following four people through their time during the Depression in the 1930s: one stuck in a boring job, wanting to be a drummer; another out of work and down on his luck; a child wantomg to spend time with her parents; and a husband struggling to find joy in his life.

Rhapsody in Blue’s animation style resembles the work of artist Al Hirschfeld, who was happy for his work to be adapted and gave notes during production on the piece. Eric Goldberg was the lead animator behind Rhapsody in Blue, and approached Hirschfeld specifically about helping with this idea, as he was a huge admirer of Hirschfeld’s work, even using some stylistic elements in his work on the character of Genie in Aladdin (1992). The colour blue was used heavily in this sequence, naturally, given the title of the musical piece, with this even being the case with the skin colours of the human characters; different shades of blue and purple hint at differences in skin tones. It was an experimental piece of animation which worked well.

Since Rhapsody in Blue is drawn in the style of Hirschfeld, it seemed right for the name “Nina” to be incorporated into this sequence. Hirschfeld inscribed this name into much of his work as a reference to his daughter. “Nina” pops up three times here: once on the toothpaste tube, then on a coat’s fur collar, and again in a woman’s hair. Also, the bespectacled character, “Flying John” was based on animation historian John Culhane, who was also the inspiration for the character of Mr. Snoops in The Rescuers (1977)[1]. 

Goldberg was given the opportunity to make Rhapsody in Blue as a standalone short. However, during a screening of Fantasia 2000, which had a combination of new sequences and ones from Fantasia, they found that some of them just weren’t working well together. Roy E. Disney then asked Goldberg if he thought Rhapsody in Blue would be ready in time for Fantasia 2000; Goldberg said it would be, so it made it into the film after all[2].  

STORY #4: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, ALLEGRO, OPUS 102: SHOSTAKOVICH

Moving on to Bette Midler, she shows some concept art of pieces that were intended for Fantasia but were never made, including a bug ballet, a baby ballet, and a piece inspired by music from the Weinberger opera Schwanda the Bagpiper. Midler goes on to explain that there was finally a success; Disney animators had wanted to do a piece following the story of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale The Steadfast Tin Soldier. They couldn’t decide what music to use, but finally settled on Shostakovich’s “Piano Concerto No. 2”, thanks to a suggestion from Roy E. Disney. The Steadfast Tin Soldier piece uses CGI characters with hand-painted backgrounds. It looks like a nod to the early work of Pixar Animation to me.

This fourth segment follows a tin soldier with one leg falling in love with a ballerina doll, originally because, when he first sees her, she is balancing on one leg so he thinks she is just like him. It’s fine though, it all works out, however, the evil jack-in-the-box in the room loves her too, so a fight ensues, with the soldier falling out of the window, into a sewer, then into the sea, where he is swallowed by a fish. That fish is then caught and brought to a fishmonger, and the soldier falls out of the fish’s mouth, returning to his place in the toy room, where there is another fight but this time the jack-in-the-box falls off the table and into the fireplace, leaving the soldier and the ballerina to reunite. What a weird story…But this version at least ends happily. The Hans Christian Andersen story has the tin soldier and the ballerina burn to a crisp in the fireplace…

This section of Fantasia 2000 is without a doubt the worst segment for me, purely because I have a fear of creepy dolls, puppets, clowns, anything with a human face that isn’t alive, so I do not like this story at all. That jack-in-the-box particularly freaks me out…

STORY #5: THE CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS FINALE: SAINT-SAËNS

On to the fifth section, which is introduced by James Earl Jones. He states that Disney animators have always had a history of drawing animals, so it would be only natural for Fantasia 2000 to include a piece inspired by “The Carnival of the Animals Finale” by Saint-Saëns. Jones says that this piece will answer the question “what is man’s relationship to nature?”, before being corrected by animator Eric Goldberg that actually this answers the age-old question “what would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?”

I love this piece, it’s my favourite in the film, because it’s so funny and silly; I also like the music. One flamingo is playing with a yo-yo, which is irritating the rest of the flock so they try to wrestle it away from him so he can continue doing the same as them, mostly just walking around in a line. This flamingo gets the better of them though, fighting against their attempts to make him conform, and the joke really is on them at the end, because he actually ends up having loads of yo-yos! This section is only two minutes long, which is palatable for anyone, but I feel like it could’ve been longer and still been just as enjoyable.

The original idea for The Carnival of the Animals segment was to have the ostriches from Dance of the Hours in Fantasia play with a yo-yo – this idea was devised by Disney story writer Joe Grant, who had worked on the original Fantasia – but instead of using the familiar characters of the ostriches, Disney ended up using the same idea but with flamingos, partly because they are more colourful[3]. This whole sequence was created in watercolours. Disney rarely used watercolours and when they did, it was mostly just for backgrounds, like in Dumbo (1941), or Lilo & Stitch (2002). It’s also interesting to see how the background colour frequently changes; when it is focused on the main flock, the background is orange, but when the “hero” flamingo is the focus, the background is green. That must have been quite difficult to keep track of[4]!

STORY #6: THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE: DUKAS

Of all of the Fantasia sections, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is easily the most well-known to the general public, so it made sense to add this segment to the program for Fantasia 2000, with this being the only story repeated from Fantasia. It is introduced by Penn and Teller, who do a couple of magic tricks for us, telling us that stage magic is all fake, but that Mickey is the “genuine article”, and that all of his magic is real. Penn then tells Teller that he is like the little sorcerer’s apprentice, with Teller then proceeding to cut Penn’s hair as revenge.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice shows Mickey using a magical hat to bring a broom to life so that it will fetch water for him, since he is so tired of doing his chores for the sorcerer. Eventually, things get out of hand though, as Mickey falls asleep and dreams that he is controlling the whole universe and all the oceans, clearly enjoying his power. When Mickey awakens, he finds that the room is flooded with water, and that he cannot stop the broom from collecting water. Mickey decides the best way to deal with the situation is to hack the unruly broom to pieces but that doesn’t work, and the wood shards come back to life, making more brooms than ever. They go back to collecting water and almost drown Mickey in the room. Finally, the sorcerer returns and is able to magic away all that water, though he is most annoyed at his apprentice. On returning to the orchestra stage, we then see Mickey shake hands with conductor Leopold Stokowski.

This story is the one that began the whole production of Fantasia, as Walt Disney wanted to make a new short cartoon that highlighted Mickey Mouse as the star attraction he is, and to give him an opportunity to act more expressively than he did in the short humorous cartoons. Mickey is obviously “the apprentice” here, with the Sorcerer being given the named Yen Sid, which is “Disney” spelt backwards. He is a strict man and one that is easily irritated. The disapproving look that he gives Mickey at the end of the story, with that raised eyebrow, was supposedly meant to be an imitation of the same disapproving look Walt Disney had[5]!

This story started out as a poem by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, which was written in 1797, telling the tale of a sorcerer who leaves his apprentice with chores to do, however, the apprentice, fed up with having to do everything by hand, enchants a broom to do his work for him, but since the apprentice is not fully trained in magic, when things get out of hand, he is powerless to stop it. Eventually, the sorcerer returns and breaks the spell. French composer Paul Dukas then used this poem as the basis for his classical piece “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, which was first performed in Paris in 1897.     

STORY #7: POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE – MARCHES 1-4: ELGAR

The next section begins as Mickey goes over to conductor James Levine, asking him to stall as he can’t find Donald Duck, the star of this next sequence. Levine tells us that Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” is normally used for graduation ceremonies these days, but here it will be a twist on the story of Noah’s Ark. Mickey tells Levine that Donald is just getting out of the shower and will be ready soon, so he can get started.

The animation begins by showing numerous animals heading off, in pairs, over to the Ark. Noah then comes to Donald, as he is Noah’s assistant, to tell him that there will be a flood and that Donald needs to help herd all the animals into the Ark, with some going more willingly than others. Daisy also arrives to get on the Ark; however, Donald can’t find her, and thinks she hasn’t made it on board. He tries to look for her, but the flood waters come, and he gets back inside, believing Daisy to be lost forever. Daisy thinks the same about Donald as she cannot find him either. Once the flood waters have receded, the animals are taken off the Ark, with Daisy leaving sadly. She then realises she has lost her locket, which contains a picture of them both together. Donald is clearing up the Ark and finds the locket – at exactly the same time that Daisy comes to retrieve it. They kiss and leave together, reunited again.

Pomp and Circumstance was an idea brought to the table by Michael Eisner as he’d just been to a graduation and felt the music would be good for Fantasia 2000 as it is familiar and universal[6]. The decision to use a biblical story alongside Elgar’s music did not sit well with everyone though, but I really like it, and think the ending of Donald and Daisy reuniting is really sweet.

Originally, George Scribner, director of Oliver & Company (1988), was tasked with taking that music and designing a Disney Princess processional to go alongside it. It would have followed the princesses, starting with Snow White and ending with Princess Jasmine, marching alongside their princes and their children, with cameos from other famous Disney characters. Donald Duck was supposed to be causing problems and ruining the stately processional at the same time. The story reel of this version of Pomp and Circumstance was shown once, apparently, on the Disney Cruise Line in 2009, but doesn’t appear to have ever been shown again[7]. Though the Disney Princess version did not work out, thanks to the idea of having Donald wreaking havoc, this led to the Noah’s Ark concept.

STORY #8: FIREBIRD SUITE – 1919 VERSION: STRAVINSKY

Angela Lansbury narrates the final sequence, Firebird using the music“Firebird Suite – 1919 Version” byStravinsky from the ballet Firebird. She says that Walt Disney once described the art of animation as “a voyage of discovery into the realms of colour, sound, and motion”, and that Stravinsky’s “Firebird” encourages such a voyage, before telling us that what we are about to see is a mythical story of life, death, and renewal.  

The sequence follows a sprite, who accidentally awakens a volcano while she is turning winter into spring. This causes immense devastation to the Earth, which she then ends up rebuilding, making everywhere green and lush again, bringing life to the forest once more. I like the colour in the scene, and it had an obvious plot, which I like. I thought it was a good ending, and the music is incredibly powerful.

The “Firebird Suite” by Stravinsky had already been licensed to Disney, at the same time that another of his works, “Rite of Spring”, had been for Fantasia. Disney knew they needed an emotional ending to rival the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria sequence from the original. It was based on a visit that Roy E. Disney took to Mount St. Helens post-eruption[8]. Many critics seemed to enjoy this section of Fantasia 2000, so I think it did the job of ending the movie on a high point.

PRODUCTION

Walt Disney’s Fantasia was released in November 1940, and received mixed reviews. Some liked the animation; others felt it was over long and tedious to sit through; music critics hated the orchestration and arrangement of beloved classical music pieces. It wasn’t at all what Walt Disney had hoped for, and the disappointing reviews stayed with him for a long time.

The whole idea for Fantasia was that the movie would be added to every so often, replacing some of the original sequences with new ones, making for a new experience every time. Some classical music pieces that were going to be included in later versions of Fantasia included Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” and Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”. But after the reaction to Fantasia, this concept was never moved forward.

In the 1970s, a new version of Fantasia, to be called Musicana, was in the works for a brief time, being worked on by veteran Disney animators Mel Shaw and Woolie Reitherman, which would have used stories and musical pieces from different countries to make a completely unique new Fantasia-style film. These sections included a jazz sequence set in the Deep South, a version of The Emperor and the Nightingale featuring Mickey Mouse, and the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, set to “Scheherazade” by Rimsky-Korsakov. Ultimately, this project was cancelled due to concerns over its profitability.

These attempts at reviving and revitalising Fantasia had not worked for decades, with the Disney Studios executives not wanting to take the risk of having a similar reception that Walt Disney received to his original film. It was actually because of a popular re-release of Fantasia in 1991 that Fantasia 2000 even came about. With the re-release, as well as the boom that The Walt Disney Company was experiencing in the 1990s both within Disney Animation and their theme parks, Disney had sufficient funds to look at making the sequel, and it boosted then-CEO Michael Eisner’s confidence in the project, though him and some other members of the Disney Company were not overly optimistic about it at times.

Fantasia 2000 had been the long-fought-for continuation of Walt’s Fantasia legacy. Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, was the real champion of the project, though the original movie had never left the minds of the Disney animators. Production on the sequel was greenlit in 1992. The aim was to release the film in 1997, but it took almost a decade to complete Fantasia 2000, as work on the film was being completed between other work for the popular “Renaissance Era” movies. The original name for this sequel was going to be Fantasia Continued, but as the release date started to approach the Millennium it was decided to tie the movie in with the year 2000.

Originally, Disney had wanted to keep half of the original Fantasia programme, and only create fifty percent new footage. However, the amount of original footage being chosen became less and less the further Fantasia 2000 got into production. For a long time though, Dance of the Hours and The Nutcracker Suite were going to be included along with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Eventually, Dance of the Hours was dropped and then The Nutcracker Suite was replaced with Rhapsody in Blue, leaving just The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which really did need to be included as it is such an iconic piece[9].

RECEPTION

Unfortunately, Fantasia 2000 wasn’t a box-office success, and in actual fact only just “broke even”. As Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was wrongly named “Walt Disney’s Folly”, perhaps it was more correct for Fantasia 2000 to be named “Roy Disney’s Folly”, as Michael Eisner supposedly referred to the film. Roy E. Disney had passion for the project, which was replicated by many of the animators who worked on Fantasia 2000, so that’s a harsh title. The movie is often overlooked, but I feel it has a place in Disney history.

In making a tribute to Walt Disney’s original Fantasia, given the initial response to that film in the 1940s, it was always going to be a risk to make a similar type of movie and release it in the 1990s. The 1990s were arguably Disney Animation’s best era, and potentially the best decade for The Walt Disney Company, and to have Fantasia 2000 be released at the end of the decade, it would seem a bit mediocre in comparison.

Fantasia 2000 premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City on 17^th December 1999, playing for three nights as part of a five-city concert tour, before moving to the Royal Albert Hall in London, and then to Paris and Tokyo, finishing in Pasadena, California on 31^st December 1999. These consisted of James Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, whilst the animation was presented on a screen above the stage.

Fantasia 2000 was then released in theatres on 1^st January 2000, becoming the first animated feature film to be presented in IMAX, so it broke new ground there, although it did limit its release to solely IMAX theatres, of which there were not so many at the time. In Los Angeles, the Disney Company built a temporary IMAX theatre to show the film for its first four months of release, from January to April 2000[10]. Fantasia 2000 was released widely in regular theatres later in the year.

Reviews for the movie were fairly positive. The release of the movie in IMAX was a positive note for many critics, who felt it fully immersed the audience in the animation and in the music, though many did say that this did not help The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which, despite being restored somewhat, looked grainy according to some viewers, especially compared to the rest of the sequences which were all new and relatively technologically advanced. Again, some sequences were popular, and others were not, with Firebird, and the artsy look of Rhapsody in Blue being two of the best sequences, and the abstractness of Symphony No. 5 being one of the least popular. Everyone has different opinions on these.

Fantasia 2000 did win four Annie Awards for its technical achievements. One of these was to Eric Goldberg for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation on The Carnival of the Animals; another was to his wife, Susan McKinsey Goldberg for Production Design on Rhapsody in Blue[11]. It lost the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature to Pixar’s Toy Story 2 (1999). The soundtrack was also nominated at the Grammy Awards for Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture.

LEGACY

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given this is the never-ending story of Fantasia, there was supposed to be a sequel to Fantasia 2000. Some sequences had already been completed, or were close to being finished at the time that this sequel, to be named Fantasia 2006, was cancelled. It did not proceed potentially due to concerns about the commercial prospects of another feature film like Fantasia. Although Fantasia itself did prove itself to be an icon of Disney movie history eventually, that has not happened for Fantasia 2000. With its mixed reviews, as well as having to follow the greats of the “Disney Renaissance Era”, it was never going to give much confidence for Disney executives to green-light a further Fantasia project. However, we did get to see some of these completed sequences as standalone short films, so all was not lost.

The Little Matchgirl made its appearance in 2006, first at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France in June 2006, before being added as a bonus feature on The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition DVD, also released in 2006. Both The Little Matchgirl and The Little Mermaid are Disney takes on Hans Christian Andersen stories. The Little Matchgirl short film was directed by Roger Allers, who had also co-directed The Lion King (1994) by this point, and produced by Don Hahn, who produced many of the hit Disney films of the 1990s including Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994).

The story follows a young homeless girl attempting to sell matchsticks to people on the streets of St. Petersburg to make some money for herself, however, no-one will buy any. Wanting to get out of the cold, the girl hides away in a snow-filled alley. To keep herself warm, the girl begins to strike her matches, each time seeing visions of happier Christmas times, with a house, a fireplace, good food, and her grandmother. But each time the match burns out, the girl is brought back to her reality of freezing alone on the streets. The next day, the girl is seemingly found in the alley by her grandmother, although, we soon see that the grandmother is a spirit and that the girl must have died in the cold… Not the happiest of tales. Apparently attempts were made to give it a happier ending, but none of these worked.

The story was first intended to be set to Debussy’s “Clair de Lune”; a piece of music that had been considered for the original Fantasia. It was not used, with Borodin’s “String Quarter No. 2” being chosen instead, and performed by the Emerson String Quartet. The Little Matchgirl was nominated for Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards, but lost to a Norwegian short titled The Danish Poet (2006)[12].

One by One was directed by Pixote Hunt, who was the Art Director for The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and created the Symphony No. 5 section for Fantasia 2000. It was released in 2004 as a bonus feature on the DVD release of The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride.

This short film takes place in a town in South Africa and sees us follow a colourful feather as it flies into this town. A young boy finds the feather and, inspired by it, calls for his friends to fly kites with him. All the children of the town find materials they can use to make their own colourful kites, and walk in procession up to the highest hill. One boy lets his kite go first and then tells everyone else to do the same, with the whole sky awash with colourful kites. One by One takes its name from the song of the same name written by Lebo M. It was originally intended to be included in The Lion King (1994). This song was cut from the final movie, but was later used in the Broadway musical of The Lion King.

Another completed sequence was Lorenzo. Work had begun on this short back in the 1940s, but was revived and completed for Fantasia 2006. After Fantasia 2006 was cancelled, Lorenzo was instead released in 2004 after premiering at the Florida Film Festival in March of that year. It was directed by Mike Gabriel, who was the co-director for The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and Pocahontas (1995).

Lorenzo is a pampered cat who comes across a stray, street cat with no tail one day, proceeding to show off how fluffy and wonderful his own is. The street cat then curses Lorenzo so that his tail will have a mind of its own, making him dance all over the streets with it. Lorenzo then finds himself in a fountain and tries to drown his tail. That doesn’t work, so he then tries to break his tail off by slamming it in a door. That also doesn’t work, so Lorenzo ties his tail down to the train tracks, but the tail is too smart for that, and manages to untie itself. Lorenzo tries to electrocute his tail, but instead only harms himself. The street cat from earlier then gives Lorenzo a knife so that he may cut his tail off. A fight then ensues, with Lorenzo ultimately succeeding in removing the tail. That’s a bit of a gruesome story…

But the music is quite good. Gabriel chose a piece of tango music for the short, which works well here, giving it some suspense and drama. The music chosen was “Bordoneo y 900”, by Osvaldo Ruggiero, performed by Juan José Mosalini and his Big Tango Orchestra. Lorenzo was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards, but lost to Ryan (2004), a short animated film about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin.

Whilst working on Fantasia 2000, Roy E. Disney uncovered a project that had begun in 1945, a collaboration between his uncle, Walt Disney, and Spanish artist Salvador Dalí entitled Destino. This is the final completed sequence for what could have been Fantasia 2006. It was instead released separately in 2003 at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France in June of that year. It was later released theatrically in 2004.

In the mid-1940s, Dalí was invited to work on this short film at the Disney Studios, completing plenty of concept art in his iconic surrealist style alongside John Hench, who went on to lead various projects as part of Walt Disney Imagineering. The story follows a young woman named Dahlia struggling to find her long-lost love, Chronos, the personification of time, as she travels across various strange landscapes, reminiscent of famous Dalí paintings. It’s not entirely clear to me what happens here, or whether the two are reunited in the final scene – let’s assume they do! The film is set to a piece of music called “Destino”, written by Armando Dominguez, performed by Dora Luz, who performed the song “You Belong to My Heart” for Disney’s The Three Caballeros (1944).

Destino was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards, losing out to the claymation short film Harvie Krumpet. Of these four completed sequences meant for Fantasia 2006, Destino seems to be the most remembered and praised, having been shown as part of numerous Dalí exhibitions around the world ever since its release in 2003.

At the Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World, Destino plays in the main lobby of its building Gran Destino Tower, which opened in July 2019. Its Dahlia Lounge area was named after the heroine of the film, and photos of Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí appear on the walls of the lounge[13].

At the All-Star Movies Resort also at Walt Disney World, two buildings of the hotel are themed to the two Fantasia movies: one features the brooms from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence which appears in both films, and the second building is themed to The Steadfast Tin Soldier section of Fantasia 2000, complete with giant statues of the creepy jack-in-the-box, the ballerina doll, and of course, the one-legged soldier. Since Fantasia 2000 wasn’t released until a year after the All-Star Movies Resort opened in January 1999, Roy E. Disney, Chairman of Feature Animation at the time and producer of Fantasia 2000, had to give special permission for the movie to be referenced[14].

There are few references at the Disney Parks that specifically relate to Fantasia 2000. Apart from those two hotels, one other is that the Spring Sprite from the Firebird sequence has featured in a couple of shows and parades. One of these was Tokyo Disneyland’s 25^th anniversary parade, Jubilation!, where the Spring Sprite was added to the top of one of the parade floats; this parade ran from 2008 to 2013. The Sprite also appeared during the original World of Color show at Disney California Adventure. The music “Pines of Rome” has also been used in a few nighttime shows, including Epcot’s New Year’s Eve Fireworks, and World of Color. The whales from Pines of Rome also appear briefly in the finale section of the Wonderful World of Animation show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

There are no character meet-and-greets here for specific Fantasia 2000 characters, although at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, you can meet Sorcerer Mickey at Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams, located just outside of the ABC Commissary quick-service location, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice scene appears in the Mickey’s PhilarMagic show which currently operates at all of the Disney Parks except for Shanghai Disneyland. Sorcerer Mickey merchandise is also likely to be the easiest to find, with anything specific to Fantasia 2000 most likely to be made for a milestone anniversary.

In recent years, Disney have gone back to their idea of making Fantasia into a concert experience. This is the touring concert Disney Fantasia: Live in Concert, where a live orchestra plays the classical pieces of music, whilst a screen shows the animated segments. The program contains a mixture of sequences from both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000, although the program seems to change. It is unclear to me when Disney Fantasia: Live in Concert first began showing, with the earliest date I can find going back to 2012. It is currently still touring in 2024.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s great that Disney agreed to make Fantasia 2000, and I think I’ve found a new Disney animated film that I like. There are pieces of music I will certainly be listening to now, so Disney have succeeded in winning me over there. I surprisingly found myself getting teary at times: at the ending with the sprite, Donald and Daisy reuniting, the whales flying off into space, so that shows how much I enjoyed the film. I’m still thinking about it a few days later.

This film was much funnier, much less stuffy, and less serious than Fantasia, and it felt generally more familiar, with the music choices and animation stylings. I hope others join me in giving this one another go, even if Fantasia is too much for them!

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Fantasia 2000 (1999)’, pp. 112-114.

[2] Credit: D23, ‘The Fantasia Legacy: A Conversation with Eric Goldberg’, Disney D23 YouTube Channel, 16^th November 2020.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Fantasia 2000 (1999)’, pp. 112-114.

[4] Credit: D23, ‘The Fantasia Legacy: A Conversation with Eric Goldberg’, Disney D23 YouTube Channel, 16^th November 2020.

[5] Credit: Disney, The Fantasia Legacy: The Concert Feature (2000).

[6] Credit: Disney, The Fantasia Legacy: Fantasia Continued (2000).

[7] Credit: Jim Hill, ‘Why For: The Disney Princess royal processional that you almost got to see’, JimHillMedia.com, 29^th April 2011.

[8] Credit: Disney, The Fantasia Legacy: Fantasia Continued (2000).

[9] Credit: Disney, The Fantasia Legacy: Fantasia Continued (2000).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Fantasia 2000 (1999)’, pp. 113.

[11] Credit: D23, ‘The Fantasia Legacy: A Conversation with Eric Goldberg’, Disney D23 YouTube Channel, 16^th November 2020.

[12] Credit: Disney, “The Little Matchgirl (2006)”, from The Little Mermaid (1989) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2006).

[13] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Gran Destino Tower’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.

[14] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: All-Star Movies’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.